This blog provides delicious,traditional, vegetarian, South Indian Recipes from my mother Chitra Amma's kitchen. There are few 'world recipes' as well!
Thanks to Shravan, Pranav, Akash, Tara, Guggs, Shankari, Adu, Dhrithi, and Appa Ramachandran for the photos!

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Saturday, September 12, 2009

The super markets here are all well stacked with merchandise and produce, to satisfy the needs of the cosmopolitan people of the city. A visit to one of these stores triggers off our imagination and inspires us to decide on the dinner menu then and there! On once such taste-bud- inspired occasion, my daughter-in-law picked up a packet of ready made pizza dough and prepared a mouth watering family sized Grilled Lemon Basil Pesto Pizza for us.

Pesto is a kind of 'Italian chutney' or paste that comes from the word pesta meaning to 'pound' or 'crush'. A Pesto is a combination of ingredients -- usually few strong flavored leaves or herbs, some garlic, and olive oil pounded together. At times cheese and nuts are added as well. This flavoursome paste can then be added to a variety of dishes such as pastas, soups or even used as a spread with bread.

To prepare Lemon Basil Pesto

Ingredients

Lemon Basil Leaves – 2 cups

Onion – 1 big

Garlic – 1 clove

Pine nuts – 1 cup

Olive oil – 4 tbsps

Salt and pepper – to taste

Method:

1. Gently roast pine nuts and keep aside.

2. Chop onion and garlic.

3. Wash and shred basil.

4. Blend all the ingredients to a coarse paste.

5. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and a dash of limejuice if you like, and give it one more swirl in the blender.

6. Store Pesto in a clean, dry container.

Refrigeration will keep the pesto fresh for up to three days.

To Prepare PizzaTopping

Ingredients

Green bell pepper – 1

Yellow bell pepper – 1

Red bell pepper –1

Onion – 1

Tomatoes – 1 red and 1 yellow

Mushrooms – a few

Jalapeno slices – to taste (If you like it spicy)

Fresh Lemon basil – for garnishing

Method

1. Cut all the peppers into halves.

2. Cut the onions into cubes.

3. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and wash.

4. Clean, grease and pre heat the grill.

5.Arrange the onion cubes on the skewers.

6. Place all the vegetables except the tomato slices directly on the grill

8. Grill the vegetables till they are tender and crisp

9. Cut the grilled peppers and mushrooms into long slices and toss them in a spoon of warm olive oil along with the grilled onions. This makes the vegetables succulent

10. Slice the tomatoes (not very thin ) and set aside.

To Prepare Pizza

Ingredients

Ready-made pizza dough - 1 packet

Pesto and Topping prepared above

Grated Pepper Jack cheese – 1 to 2 cups as required.

Method

1. My daugther-in-law used the back of a baking tray to spread the pizza dough. Grease the back of a baking tray and sprinkle little flour evenly. This will prevent the dough from sticking.

2. Place the dough in the middle of the prepared tray and start patting evenly using fingers. Patting the dough on the backside of the tray helps to slide the pizza easily on to the grill.

3. Pat the dough and shape it into an even, moderately thick (about ¾ inches), rectangular or oblong pizza.

4. Gently slide the pizza directly on to the prepared grill, cover and cook, opening to check now and then, till the dough puffs up here and there.

5. Lift up the pizza with a spatula and check if it is brown and crusty enough.

6. When the pizza is done flip it to the other side.

7. Now apply a thick layer of Pesto on top of the pizza.

8. Arrange the grilled and cut vegetables, tomato slices and jalapeno on top.

9. Garnish with freshly chopped up basil.

10. Top the pizza with as much grated cheese as you wish with a sprinkle of pepper and salt.

11. Cover again and cook till the cheese melts.

It is a lot of fun and quality time spent together, when all the family members come together to prepare the huge family sizes Pesto Pizza. We did enjoy every bite of it with a good helping of tomato ketchup, chilly sauce and mustard sauce as desired.

wow that sounds sooooooooo tasty. I have never heard of lemon basil ? I bet it must taste as great as it sounds. I also loved the way it was all prepared on the barbecue, giving it added flavour I bet.

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Hello

Welcome to Chitra Amma's Kitchen.

I am Dibs. I am a born Foodie. I love to cook; love to eat; love to feed folks who appreciate good food. Blogging provides me a great way of documenting my mother, Chitra’s recipes, as a ready reference irrespective which time zone I live in. Amma honestly makes the best food I've ever had, and somehow, the anecdotes she tells us, make the dishes taste all the better.Most posts here are written by my mother Chitra. It’s her recipes, along with related reminiscences of people, places and anecdotes. She writes, I post!What started for a lark, has now become a serious hobby, drawing in participation from the whole family. My father, S.R. Ramachandran has started clicking away every dish made at home! Aunts, cousins, siblings, contribute to photos, and ask for recipes.We try to illustrate implements such as utensils, grinding stones and so on from the ‘pre-electric-mixer’ days wherever possible. We hope this will make an interesting read for future generations, on how food was cooked in earlier times!The site is still in its infancy, and slowly evolving, as our skills improve! We invite your comments, ideas, and questions, and will attempt answering them.

Thank you for your visit, and we hope you enjoy your stay at Chitra Amma’s Kitchen.